Nicholas Kristof: Today We Are All Egyptians

Mahmood whose left arm was in a sling, whose leg was in a cast and whose head was being bandaged in a small field hospital set up by the democracy movement. This was the seventh time in 24 hours that he had needed medical treatment for injuries suffered at the hands of government-backed mobs. But as soon as Mahmood was bandaged, he tottered off once again to the front lines.

Amr had lost his legs many years ago in a train accident, but he rolled his wheelchair into Tahrir Square to show support for democracy, hurling rocks back at the mobs that President Hosni Mubarak apparently sent to besiege the square.

Why was this wheelchair-bound man at Tahrir (Liberation) Square?

“I still have my hands,” he said firmly. “God willing, I will keep fighting.”

Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, an 80-year-old feminist (pictured) says, “I feel born again.” Kristof properly notes that “Mubarak has disgraced the twilight of his presidency by unleashing goons for a brutal crackdown.”

The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, and they deserve our strongest support — and, frankly, they should inspire us as well. A quick lesson in colloquial Egyptian Arabic: Innaharda, ehna kullina Misryeen! Today, we are all Egyptians!